THE SECRET OF ANIMARU ISLAND
by Kim Dreamcatcher
Summary: Aang and his friends arrive on Animaru Island, a place inhabited only by animals, or so it appears...
1. The Talking Animals

THE SECRET OF ANIMARU ISLAND

**Chapter One: The Talking Animals**

"Are you sure you know where this Animaru Island is, Aang?" Katara asked curiously as Aang scanned the ocean far below them, perched on top of Appa's head.

"I'll know it when I see it, Katara. The way the island is shaped, it's very hard to miss," Aang confessed.

"Are you sure this island even exists, Aang?" Sokka asked a bit suspiciously as he studied the map they brought with them on their journey. "I've never heard of Animaru Island, and it's nowhere on this map."

"That's because not a lot of people know about it. It's a very secret and special place," Aang explained.

"What's so special about it?" Katara inquired.

"Umm…I don't really remember. I never went there myself, but I know it has something to do with the animals living there," Aang recalled.

"Uh…Aang, if you've never been to this island, then how would you know where to find it?" Sokka asked suspiciously as he looked up from the map.

"Oh, umm…look, there it is!" Aang announced as he pointed down at the ocean. Sokka and Katara looked down and saw what Aang was pointing at: a relatively decent-sized island with an unusual shape to it, similar to the shape of a crescent moon.

"Come on, Appa! Yip-yip!" Aang instructed his flying bison, who immediately started to descend down towards the island. Within a few minutes, Appa was gliding over the island's massive bay, just inches away from the water. It took some time, but Appa eventually landed on the sandy shoreline of the island with his four passengers.

"Here it is, guys: Animaru Island!" Aang announced as he climbed off of Appa and landed on the sandy beach, followed by Katara and Sokka.

"What's so special about this island again, Aang?" Sokka asked a bit dully as he looked around the island.

"This island's inhabited by wild animals, Sokka…and I heard that there's a wild rhino living here!" Aang openly admitted with a mischievous grin.

"A rhino? You mean those huge beasts with the long tails and the three sharp horns? The very same rhinos that the Fire Nation rode on when they invaded Kyoshi Island?" Sokka asked a bit panicky.

"Yup, those are the ones," Aang confessed.

"You're not seriously thinking about…riding a wild rhino, are you?" Katara asked curiously.

"Of course, I am, Katara. It's gonna be fun!" Aang replied as he started walking towards the thicket of tropical trees, with Momo riding on his shoulder.

"Aang! Wait for us!" Katara shouted as she and Sokka ran after the young airbender. When they caught up with Aang and Momo, Sokka and Katara were surprised to see him just standing there, staring at a bush.

"Is there something wrong, Aang?" Katara asked curiously as she stood next to Aang.

"I heard something in that bush," Aang explained as he pointed at the bush.

Just then, the bush rustled very loudly. Out of curiosity, Aang slowly parted the bush. The three kids gasped slightly when they saw that the cause of the noise was just a little white rabbit with long floppy ears.

"Oh, it's just a little rabbit," Katara realized.

"It looks just like that rabbit I tried to catch for King Bumi back at the City of Omashu, remember, Katara?" Aang asked. "At the time, I thought it was his pet, Flopsie."

"It's not just a rabbit, guys…it's lunch!" Sokka announced as he tried to grab the rabbit. Sensing that he was trouble, the rabbit quickly jumped out of the way.

"Get back here!" Sokka shouted as he chased after the rabbit.

"Sokka, give it up! Rabbits are so fast! There's no way you can catch it!" Katara shouted after her brother, who disappeared in the thick foliage.

"Should we go follow him?" Aang asked curiously as he looked at Katara.

"No, he'll be back…empty-handed!" Katara remarked as she sat down, along with Aang and Momo. "Sokka can be so stubborn sometimes. At least, he's making a real effort into getting some food this time."

A few minutes had passed when Sokka finally rejoined Aang, Katara, and Momo. He was panting heavily, his clothes were dirty, and he had one hand behind his back. A small smirk appeared on Sokka's face as he held his arm out, showing that he was holding the rabbit by her ears, which was clearly struggling to escape from his grasp.

"See…I caught it! I caught…the rabbit!" Sokka gasped loudly, clearly out of breath. "Let's build a fire so we can roast it now! I'm starving!"

"No, please don't eat me!" a high-pitched voice pleaded.

Upon hearing that voice, the three children looked down at the rabbit, which had her eyes closed and was trembling out of fear. It took a few moments for Sokka to realize that the rabbit just spoke.

"Ahh!" Sokka screamed out of shock as he let go of the rabbit, which fell to the ground and landed on her four legs.

"Are you okay?" Aang asked curiously as he knelt down next to the rabbit, which was scratching her ears with her hind foot.

"Yes, I think so…but my ears hurt! Did you have to pull them so hard?" the rabbit asked as she looked up at Sokka.

"I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to…I'm talking to a rabbit! Rabbits aren't supposed to talk!" Sokka exclaimed.

"Well, this one does!" the rabbit smugly pointed out as she crossed her arms in front of her fluffy white chest. "So, what brings you to Animaru Island?"

"I heard there was a wild rhino on this island and I wanted to ride it!" Aang openly confessed.

"Wild rhinos are very dangerous! What makes you think that you can handle such a wild animal?" the rabbit inquired. "Are you with the Fire Nation? I've heard that rhinos are their preferred beasts of burden."

"Trust me, we are not with the Fire Nation!" Sokka firmly denied.

"I figured as much. From your clothing, you and the girl must be from one of the Water Tribes…but what about you?" the rabbit asked Aang.

"Oh, I'm an airbender," Aang replied.

"An airbender? I thought that they were all wiped out by the Fire Nation years ago, unless…you're the Avatar, aren't you?" the rabbit asked curiously.

"Yup, that's me," Aang openly admitted.

"Oh, wow! It's so nice to finally meet you, Mr. Avatar!" the rabbit exclaimed happily as she hopped up and down out of excitement.

"Actually, you can just call me Aang. And these are my friends, Katara and Sokka," Aang introduced himself and his two friends. "Momo here is my friend, too."

"Well, my name is Rini, and seeing that you are the Avatar, Aang, I know that I can entrust you and your friends with my secret," the rabbit revealed.

"What kind of secret?" Katara asked curiously.

"You'll see soon enough," the rabbit replied as she held her front paws together and closed her eyes.

To Aang, Sokka, and Katara's surprise, the rabbit started to rapidly grow and take on human features. When it was all over, there was a little girl sitting on the ground where the rabbit once was, who was a few years younger than Aang appeared to be. Her long blondish-brown hair was tied back into a pair of braided pigtails, which ran halfway down her back. She was wearing a simple light tan short-sleeve dress with a white rabbit pelt sewn over her left shoulder, a thin dark brown cord tied around her waist, white leggings, tan boots, and a simple necklace made of a dark brown leather cord and a single white shell.

Rini suddenly opened her golden brown eyes and announced, "Hello again!"

"Urhm…" Sokka gasped out of surprise as he jumped back a bit.

"You're still Rini…right?" Katara asked a bit uncertainly as the little girl stood up, who was clearly shorter than Aang.

"Yeah, of course it's still me, Katara!" Rini replied with a giggle. "This is how I always looked, before I started developing my powers."

"What kind of powers?" Aang asked curiously.

"Well, umm…uh…the other kids at the village can explain it better than I can," Rini revealed. "Come on, I'll show you!" The little girl giggled loudly as she grabbed Aang's arm and dragged him deeper into the forest, followed by Sokka, Katara, and Momo…

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**DC:** Hey, Kim Dreamcatcher here! Well, this is my very first Avatar fanfic, so hope you enjoy! Any and all comments are appreciated, whether they're good or bad. Also, if there's any Sailor Moon fans out there reading this, you probably recognize the name Rini. I thought it would be a perfect name for the first character that Aang and company meet in this fic, since the name itself means "little rabbit."


	2. Leader of the Pack

THE SECRET OF ANIMARU ISLAND

**Chapter Two: Leader of the Pack**

"Wow! That's such a neat trick, Aang!" Rini gasped loudly as Aang demonstrated his airbending skills by spinning a marble around in midair in between his hands. "I know the other kids in the village are going to love that! And making the water rise out of that pond we just passed…"

"Rini, are we getting any closer to this village of yours?" Sokka asked a bit impatiently as he pushed yet another low-growing branch out of his way.

"We're almost there, Sokka," Rini replied as she pointed at a small clearing in the distance.

When the four children reached the small clearing, there were a group of large straw huts gathered together in a circle. In the center of the large circle of huts was a large fire pit. Sitting on one of many small logs positioned around the fire pit was a boy.

"Sai, where's Tora?" Rini asked curiously as she approached the boy, who appeared to be no older than Sokka. He had long dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, with the hair below the tips of his ears cleanly shaven off, and bright brown eyes. Sai was dressed in tanned animal skins in the form of a short-sleeve tunic, a brown leather sash, brown boots, light tan leggings, dark brown leather gauntlets, and patches of dark brown animal fur over both of his shoulders, possibly from a bear.

"Tora hasn't returned since breakfast, little Rini. I believe she's still patrolling the island," Sai replied nonchalantly, not bothering to look behind him as he wiped the blade of his battle axe with a rag. "She should be back shortly to help us gather food for lunch."

"Great! What is for lunch, anyway?" Sokka asked curiously, causing Sai to jump out of alarm.

"Rini, what are these people doing here?" Sai asked suspiciously as he aimed his axe at Aang, Sokka, and Katara. "You know better than to approach outsiders that land on Animaru Island, let alone lead them anywhere near our village."

"I know that, Sai, but Aang is no stranger! He's the Avatar!" Rini announced as she gestured towards Aang.

"The Avatar? Rini, you can be so naïve sometimes. The Avatar disappeared a hundred years ago, and this 'Aang' is just a child himself!" Sai pointed out.

"But, Sai, what about all of the stories we've heard from passing fishermen that the Avatar has returned?" Rini asked. "Even though the Avatar is over a hundred years old, the fishermen said that he still looks like a little boy. And everyone knows that the reason the Fire Nation wiped out the Air Nomads so many years ago was because they would produce the next Avatar, according to the Avatar Cycle. Also, I saw Aang demonstrate his abilities. Not only is he an airbender, but he also knows some waterbending. Who else, but the Avatar, can master more than one element?"

"I'll believe it…when I see it!" Sai pointed out smugly as he crossed his arms in front of his chest, still brandishing the axe.

"Go on, Aang. Show him who's wrong!" Rini encouraged the young airbender.

"Okay, sure, Sai," Aang agreed as he formed a large ball of swirling air, sat down Indian-style on top of it, and circled around Sai on the ball of air until it eventually disappeared on its own.

"Wow…you really are the Avatar!" Sai gasped loudly out of astonishment with his mouth agape.

"See, Sai? I told you so!" Rini admitted a bit smugly.

"I would invite you to stay…but that's entirely up to our leader, Tora," Sai openly confessed.

Just then, there was a loud rustling noise from some tall grass near them. Aang, Sokka, and Katara turned around and gasped loudly out of fear when they saw a rather large orange tiger emerge from the tall grass, covered from head to tail with black stripes. The large tiger growled menacingly as it slowly approached Aang, Katara, and Sokka, with the three of them slowly backing away from the advancing tiger.

"Tora, it's okay, really! This boy, Aang…he's the Avatar!" Rini announced as she pointed at Aang. "Both Sai and I saw his airbending abilities for ourselves."

"Is that so?" the tiger asked in a deep purr as she sat down and closed her green eyes.

Just like Rini did before, the tiger transformed, this time into a teenage girl, who appeared to be just as old as Sokka, if not older. She had long reddish-brown hair, with some thin braids scattered throughout it, green eyes, and a well-toned body. The girl known as Tora was wearing a sleeveless tunic and a knee-length skirt made of deer hide, light tan leggings, tan boots halfway up to her knees, a brown cord around her waist, a choker necklace composed of braided strips of leather and small white seashells, and brown cords tied around each bicep, with knots tied at the tips of the loose ends. In addition, Tora had a coiled up whip attached to the cord around her waist. Sokka felt his face become flustered when he first saw Tora's human form.

"So, the stories we've heard are true, then. The Avatar has returned after one hundred years," Tora stated as she approached Aang, Sokka, and Katara. When she stopped in front of the three new arrivals, Tora brought her hands together and bowed respectively to Aang. "It is a great honor to have you in our presence, Avatar Aang."

"Actually, you can just call me Aang," Aang openly confessed as he rubbed the back of his bald head. "Everyone else does. Oh, this is my friend, Katara. She's a waterbender."

"Ah, a waterbender…would that be from the North or the South Pole, Katara?" Tora asked curiously as she shook Katara's hand.

"The South Pole, Tora," Katara replied. "I'm traveling to the North Pole with Aang so we can both learn more about waterbending. And this is my older brother, Sokka."

"Good to meet you, Sokka," Tora admitted as she held her hand out to Sokka.

"I-it's good to meet me, too…I mean you! You!" Sokka stuttered nervously as he shook Tora's hand.

"Where is everyone?" Katara asked curiously as she looked around the small village. "This village looks pretty empty…except for us."

"Just you wait," Tora replied as she cupped her hands over her mouth. Much to the surprise of Aang, Katara, and Sokka, Tora let out a loud tiger's roar at the top of her lungs, the sound echoing throughout the surrounding forest. Within moments, several children, all varying in ages, ran out of the forest and gathered around the fire pit.

"Everyone, listen to me well!" Tora announced as she stood on top of one of the logs. "We have a very special guest here on our island, and he and his friends are welcome to stay here with us as long as they like! May I present…the Avatar!" She pointed directly at Aang, who just bore a sheepish grin as the children started to whisper excitedly amongst themselves.

"All right, everyone, we need to start gathering food, not just for lunch, but for dinner as well," Tora continued. "Gokuin, you're responsible for the fish, and Uma, you help him carry the fish back here. Dachou and Mai, be sure to dig up plenty of roots. Saru and Oumu, your turn to gather nuts, and make sure there's plenty left to grind into flour for bread. Tori and Kameko, you're to pick berries and mushrooms. As for the rest of you, gather other fruit, such as pears, melons, and bananas. And with the exception of Gokuin and Uma, you may assist the others in their tasks as well. Now, let's move out!"

As quickly as they gathered, the children soon dispersed back into the forest, including Rini.

"Wow…you must be a really good leader, Tora!" Aang gasped out of astonishment as Tora hopped off of the log she was standing on.

"It's important to maintain leadership, especially nowadays, with the war going on," Tora stated as she rejoined Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Sai. "Come on; let's go join the others in the forest."

"Okay, sounds like fun!" Aang agreed as he, Sokka, Katara, and Momo followed Tora and Sai into the forest…

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**DC:** Okay, you probably have a ton of questions about the people of Animaru Island: Who are they? What are they? How can they do what they can do? Is there anything else they can do? All these questions will be answered in chapter 3, which will be coming soon to a computer screen near you! Until then, TTFN! (ta-ta for now, in case you didn't know)


	3. Unwelcome Intruders

THE SECRET OF ANIMARU ISLAND

**Chapter Three: Unwelcome Intruders**

"So…uh, Tora? How are you able to change into a tiger and back again? And that little girl, Rini?" Sokka asked curiously as he, Aang, and Katara followed Tora and Sai through the dense forest.

"It's actually very simple, Sokka. We're called animal benders," Tora announced. "We have the ability to morph into any animal of our choosing, and even in our normal forms, we can talk to animals. All animals can talk, but we're the only ones who can understand what they're saying…besides the animals, of course."

"I never heard of animal benders before," Katara reluctantly admitted.

"I have, Katara!" Aang revealed. "Most people think that the animal benders are just legend, those who have heard of them, at least."

"And that's how we prefer to keep it. The only people who knew the truth about our existence are those from the Earth Kingdom, since we live so close to them. In case you're curious about the lack of adults in our village, that's because most of them went off to aid the Earth Kingdom in the ongoing war," Tora explained. "They pose as animals, so their true identities will not be discovered by the Fire Nation. Being the oldest child out of all of us, I was put in charge of the village until our parents return to Animaru Island. That was well over two years ago."

Just then, the group noticed a white winged lemur gliding through the air, with a pear in one of his tiny paws. The lemur landed on Aang's shoulder and offered him the pear.

"Oh, thanks, Momo," Aang admitted as he took the pear from the lemur.

"Actually, I'm not Momo. He's still up in the trees, helping himself to some fruit," the lemur explained. "My name is Saru. It's a great honor to meet you, Aang."

"Saru, aren't you supposed to be helping Oumu gather nuts?" Tora asked nonchalantly.

"Oh, that's right. Sorry, Tora," the lemur apologized with a nervous chuckle before jumping off of Aang's shoulders and gliding further into the forest.

"Hey, Tora, could you teach me animal bending?" Aang asked curiously before taking a bite out of his pear.

"I'm afraid that animal bending is something that cannot be taught, Aang," Tora reluctantly told him. "It's something that you're born with. If animal bending could be taught, then the Avatar Cycle would include our people. From birth, we have the ability to communicate with animals. Between the ages of eight and ten, we're capable of transforming into our first animal form. A year or two down the line, and we're able to change into other animal forms. Even though we're capable of changing into any animal form we choose, we each have one animal we prefer above all others. Like myself, for example…I prefer the tiger. A tiger's quiet, fast, an excellent hunter, and a skilled climber, too."

As they reached an area covered with a variety of fruit trees, Aang, Katara, and Sokka were all amazed by the sight they saw before them. The children they had seen earlier, most of them younger than Aang himself appeared to be, were skillfully climbing the fruit trees, without any assistance from ropes, vines, or even each other. Some of the children carried large empty sacks with them up the trees. Once they had reached branches abundant with pears, melons, or bananas; the children formed a human chain, passing the fruit down the line and placing them carefully into the sacks.

"Oh, wow!" Katara gasped softly as she watched the children in amazement. "They're so agile…"

"We learn how to climb at a young age, around the same time we learn to walk and talk," Tora explained as she looked at Aang. "So, I heard that you originally came here to ride a wild rhino, Aang?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah, but there are no real animals here, are they?" Aang asked with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"No, only the fish in the bay are real, I'm afraid," Tora revealed.

Seeing the disappointed look in Aang's eyes, Tora looked over at Sai. "Hey, Sai, why don't you give the Avatar a ride he'll never forget?" she suggested.

"Certainly, Tora," Sai replied as he stepped away from the others a short distance.

"Why Sai?" Katara asked curiously.

"Besides it being his favorite animal form, Sai is the only one out of all of us here who has been successful with taking on the form of a Komodo rhino," Tora explained. "Since the rhino is such a large beast, it's hard to take on that form, let alone hold onto it. Even I can't do it as well as Sai can. Only a handful of the adult animal benders from our village can accomplish this form, and they're the most experienced…"

Aang was no longer paying attention to what Tora was saying. His eyes were fixed on Sai as he morphed into the large three-horned beast he was hoping to ride.

"What are you waiting for, Aang? Climb on up," the rhino insisted in a deep voice as he knelt down on all fours.

"All right!" Aang shouted enthusiastically as he climbed up on the rhino's back and sat himself down on the beast's shoulders. "Katara, Sokka, you wanna come ride with me?"

"Uh…I'll pass," Sokka declined

"We're just going to watch, okay?" Katara added.

"Okay, guys. Let's go, Sai!" Aang shouted enthusiastically.

"Hold on tight, Aang! I don't plan on holding back!" the rhino cautioned the young airbender before he charged off into the forest, with Aang holding on tightly and screaming ecstatically to his heart's content…

"Why does the captain need to speak with me?" Zuko asked a bit irritably as he followed Iroh down a hall towards the control room of the warship.

"Well, we've been back out at sea for two days now, Prince Zuko, and you haven't given the captain any instructions on where to go," Iroh pointed out.

"Fine, then," Zuko muttered out loud as they entered the control room, where the captain was waiting for them.

"Prince Zuko, we have been heading westward for quite some time. According to my maps, we should be coming upon some islands shortly," the captain explained as he gestured towards some maps, which were all spread out on a table before him. "Would you care to stop at any of these islands to search them for the Avatar?"

"Hmm…" Zuko murmured thoughtfully as he walked towards the large window and gazed out the window in deep thought over his next move. "What about that island, captain?" he asked curiously as he pointed out a large island in the distance.

"This is very odd, Prince Zuko. That island is nowhere on any of our maps," the captain murmured thoughtfully as he studied his maps carefully.

"I don't care, captain. The Avatar has been seen heading in this direction, and it's very likely that he would land there," Zuko pointed out as he turned around to face the captain. "Set a course for that island immediately."

"Right away, Prince Zuko," the captain replied as he approached the steering wheel…

Meanwhile, just a short distance out in the large natural bay of Animaru Island, a large brown seal covered with dark brown tiger stripes broke the surface of the water, with a large fish in its mouth. The seal then waddled down the beach towards a tan horse lying down on all fours, who had two large woven baskets secured over her back, both filled with fish. The horse had a long blonde mane, a long skinny tan tail with a tuft of blonde hair at the tip of it, a white belly, cloven hooves, and long pointed ears tipped with white.

"Gokuin, I think that's enough fish for everyone," the horse pointed out as the seal carefully placed the fish he just caught into one of the two baskets.

"You can never have enough fish, Uma. Besides, we have three extra mouths to feed," the seal pointed out.

"Don't forget that Avatar Aang is a vegetarian, Gokuin. He doesn't eat fish or any kind of meat," the horse explained.

"In that case, there's more fish for me!" the seal admitted matter-of-factly.

The horse just shook her head and nickered softly as the seal started hopping back towards the water. Just as he got into the shallow end of the water, the seal suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked out intently at the water, with his long pointed ears perked up slightly.

"What's wrong, Gokuin? Do you hear something?" the horse asked curiously as she stood up and walked closer to the shoreline.

"I don't hear something, Uma…but I definitely smell something in the air," the seal replied as he sniffed the air. "Smells like…smoke, but not like smoke from burning wood. I think it's from burning coals. Do you smell it, too?"

"Yes, I can smell it…but it's not very strong," the horse agreed as she sniffed the air as well. "That cannot be good, Gokuin. Fire Nation uses coal to fuel their warships!"

Just as the horse finished speaking, there was a black dot that appeared over the water in the far distance.

"It must be Fire Nation. They're the only ones who travel in large black metal ships. What are we gonna do, Uma? Do you think they're heading this way?" the seal asked curiously as he looked up at the horse.

"I don't know for certain…but either way, we should let Tora know about this," the horse pointed out. "If that Fire Navy warship's heading for our island, not only are our lives in jeopardy, but so is the Avatar."

"You go tell Tora about this, Uma. I'll slip into the water and keep an eye on the ship until it's decided what we should do about it," the seal suggested as he looked back at the horse.

"All right, but keep yourself hidden, Gokuin. If the men aboard that ship even have half of a brain, they should know that seals are not native to these waters," the horse cautioned as she turned around and galloped back towards the forest, while the seal slipped into the water…

"So, did you two have fun?" Tora asked curiously as Aang and Sai, who was back in his human form, rejoined her, Katara, and Sokka.

"We sure did!" Aang exclaimed loudly as he shook his head up and down. "That was the best ride I ever had! Thanks a lot, Sai!"

"It was my pleasure, Aang," Sai replied.

"That's good to hear, Aang," Katara openly admitted.

"Hmm…that's an interesting boomerang you have there, Sokka," Tora commented when she noticed the boomerang in Sokka's holster.

"Umm…thanks," Sokka replied.

"Could I take a look at it?" Tora requested.

"Sure, I guess," Sokka replied as he removed his boomerang from the holster and handed it to Tora.

"Hmm…it's very lightweight and made of metal. One of the outer edges is sharpened…very fine craftsmanship," Tora muttered to herself as she looked over the boomerang in her hands.

"Uhh…yeah, I guess so. How do you know all of this?" Sokka asked curiously.

"My father makes weapons for a living," Tora explained. "I understand the work involved in making all sorts of weapons. Before he left with the other adults, my father made some extra weapons for us, in case we ever had to defend the island in their absence."

As Tora spoke, she spotted a large bunch of ripe bananas high up in the trees. "Sokka, would you mind if I give this a throw?" Tora asked curiously.

"No, of course not! Throw away!" Sokka insisted.

Tora held out the boomerang in front of her, aiming for the bunch of bananas. She then brought her arm back and threw the boomerang with all of her might.

"Sai, catch!" Tora shouted as the sharp edge of the boomerang sliced right through the stem that secured the bananas to the tree. Sai quickly ran forward and caught the bananas before they hit the ground.

Tora smiled a bit as she held her hand up high above her head and caught the boomerang. "Thanks for letting me borrow this, Sokka," she admitted with a small smile as she handed the boomerang back to Sokka.

As Tora turned away and headed further into the forest, Sokka's face became flustered yet again. "I'll never polish this boomerang again!" Sokka muttered to himself as he followed Tora, along with Aang and Katara.

"Hey, Katara?" Aang whispered to Katara. "Have you noticed that Sokka's been acting a little weird ever since we met Tora and the other animal benders?"

"It's nothing to worry about, Aang. Sokka's just acting like that because he likes Tora," Katara pointed out.

"But…I like Tora, too, and I'm not acting weird, am I?" Aang asked curiously.

"No, not like that, Aang. I mean that Sokka REALLY likes her," Katara explained.

"Oh…OHH!" Aang slowly realized as he nodded his head.

"Tora! Tora!" a girl's voice shouted.

Upon hearing her name, Tora immediately turned around, along with Sai, Aang, Katara, and Sokka. They saw a tan horse with a blonde mane galloping towards them, with two large woven baskets secured to her back that were filled with fish.

"Uma, what's going on? Where's Gokuin?" Tora questioned as the horse brought herself to a quick stop, panting heavily.

"Fire…Nation…" the horse gasped. "One of their warships…out on the horizon…Gokuin stayed behind…to keep an eye on the ship…"

"Oh, no!" Aang gasped out loud.

"Do you suppose they are after the Avatar, Tora?" Sai asked curiously.

"From what I heard, the Fire Nation has been searching even more relentlessly for the Avatar ever since it was discovered that he had returned," Tora muttered thoughtfully.

"Maybe we should leave now, Tora. That way, the Fire Nation won't find out about you and your people," Aang suggested.

"That wouldn't be best, Aang. Even though the ship is only in the horizon, a telescope would most certainly pick out a flying bison leaving the island from such a distance," Tora pointed out. "I'll go to the shoreline and check things out for myself. Sai, make sure that everyone continues with their tasks. I don't want to worry anyone just yet."

"Yes, Tora…but what will you do if they approach our island?" Sai inquired curiously.

"I have a plan, Sai. The Fire Nation is a bit superstitious, from what I heard. An ill-omened warning from a mystical talking tiger should do the trick," Tora revealed…


	4. Ominous Warning

THE SECRET OF ANIMARU ISLAND

**Chapter Four: Ominous Warning**

"I wonder what's taking Tora so long," the seal muttered worriedly as he crawled out of the water onto the beach. He looked back at the massive black warship, which was now more than halfway into the island's bay.

"There's no doubt about it now: the ship is definitely approaching our island," the seal stated as he made his way toward a thick cluster of brush.

Concealed by the brush, the seal transformed back into his human form of a young boy with thick dark brown hair pulled back into a small bushy ponytail, and hazel eyes. He was wearing a short-sleeve tunic made of animal skins, light tan leggings, knee-high brown boots, and a tan headband around his head.

Suddenly, Gokuin was a bit startled when he heard a noise coming from behind him. He quickly turned around, prepared to fight off any potential attacker. Gokuin let out a soft sigh of relief when Tora stepped out from the forest.

"Oh, Tora! It's you!" he gasped.

"So, what's going on here, Gokuin?" Tora asked curiously. "Uma said there was a Fire Nation ship heading towards the island."

"Unfortunately, that's true, Tora," Gokuin reluctantly admitted as he pointed out the warship in the distance. "There's no question in my mind now that they're coming here. I doubt that they're here to gather food; that's not the Fire Nation's style."

"I know, Gokuin," Tora replied. "They must be here to search for Aang. It's no secret that the Fire Nation has been searching for the Avatar since he disappeared one hundred years ago. They know he's the only one who can bring this war to an end; that's why the Fire Nation's so desperate to catch him."

"What would they do to Aang if they ever did catch him? You don't think they would…?" Gokuin trailed off.

"No, they wouldn't do that, Gokuin. If Aang died, the Avatar Cycle would start over, and the Fire Nation would have to resume their search all over again," Tora explained. "Let's go up on the cliff, Gokuin. That way, we can keep an eye on them without them seeing us."

"Yeah, good idea, Tora," Gokuin agreed as the two ran through the brush…

By the time the two animal benders had reached the top of the small cliff, the Fire Navy warship had reached shore.

"Look, they're disembarking," Gokuin announced as he pointed down at the warship, which had lowered a large ramp onto the beach.

Tora and Gokuin watched intently as six rhinos climbed down the ramp one at a time, each one carrying a rider dressed in the traditional black-and-red metal armor of the Fire Nation. When the last rider, a teenage boy, left the warship on his rhino, Tora sniffed the air a bit.

"That one…his scent is different from the others," Tora muttered out loud. "Not only is he a firebender, but he possesses the slight odor of burnt flesh. My guess is that he has a large burn scar somewhere on his person that's at least a year old, perhaps even two."

"I heard from the fishermen once that the prince of the Fire Nation has a large burn scar over his left eye that he obtained two years ago. Do you suppose that's him?" Gokuin asked curiously.

"Possibly, Gokuin. He appears to be the one in charge of the group of soldiers, and I doubt the Fire Lord would allow someone so young to lead any sort of battalion, unless it happened to be his own flesh and blood," Tora muttered out loud. "Gokuin, you go rejoin everyone back in the village. I shall return shortly."

"Okay, Tora. Be careful and good luck," Gokuin replied before running off into the brush.

"Now, to take my plan into action," Tora muttered out loud as she changed into the form of a tiger and started to slowly make her way down the cliff towards the beach…

"I want every inch of this island searched for any sign that the Avatar was here," Zuko told the five soldiers who disembarked from the warship with him, each riding their own rhino. "We'll start by looking for any tracks on the shoreline, and then we'll move further inland."

"Yes, Prince Zuko!" the five soldiers agreed simultaneously.

As the six rhinos and their riders walked along the sandy shore, Zuko had a strange feeling that someone or something was watching him. Upon looking around, Zuko soon noticed a pair of large green eyes watching from the top of a high tree. Within moments, the eyes disappeared from sight.

_Those eyes…they couldn't possibly belong to a person. They look like they belong to some sort of animal,_ Zuko thought to himself as his rhino continued to lead him down the sandy shoreline. Suddenly, all six rhinos abruptly stopped in their tracks.

"What's going on?" Zuko demanded.

"I'm not sure, Prince Zuko," one of the soldiers announced uncertainly. "The rhinos refuse to move for some reason."

At that moment, Zuko noticed some movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked over at the thick forest to his right and gasped when he saw a large orange tiger with black stripes emerge from some bushes. The tiger growled menacingly as she slowly approached the six rhinos and their riders. Zuko watched cautiously as the tiger paced past him and down the line of rhinos, then back again.

"Stay perfectly still, Prince Zuko. We don't want to upset the beast. Tigers are said to be excellent hunters and jumpers," one of the soldiers closest to Zuko whispered loudly as the tiger stopped at the young prince's steed.

"Steady now, men," another soldier instructed as all five soldiers held up their spears and aimed them at the tiger. The large cat seemed to sense what they were up to, for she glared angrily at them with her green eyes and growled threateningly before returning her attention to Zuko.

"Tell your men to hold their ground!" the tiger growled loudly, much to Zuko's surprise.

"Prince Zuko?" the soldier closest to the prince asked curiously when he noticed the stunned look on Zuko's face.

"I…I must be hearing things. I could have sworn that tiger just spoke to me," Zuko hesitantly confessed.

"Then, you're not the only one, Prince Zuko, for I heard the beast speak as well," the soldier revealed.

"We all heard it, my lord," another soldier added, with the remaining three soldiers nodding their heads in agreement. Zuko carefully watched the tiger as she paced around the rhino he was riding on. She soon crouched down and jumped up onto the backside of Zuko's rhino.

"What are you humans doing here on my island?" the tiger questioned as Zuko swung around in his saddle so that he was now facing the large wild cat.

"We're searching for someone: a young monk with an arrow on his head. He travels with two children from the Water Tribe, one of them being a waterbender," Zuko replied as calmly as he could, knowing that the tiger could easily knock him off of his steed with a single swipe of her paw.

"There have been no monks here for many years, nor have there been any other human that has set foot on this island…with the exception of you and your men," the tiger explained. "Unless you have any other business here, then I suggest you leave."

"Fine, then. We'll be on our way," Zuko replied, much to the five soldiers' surprise. He looked over his shoulder at the soldiers and announced, "You heard me right! We're leaving!"

"That's good, and I suggest you leave right away," the tiger growled as she leapt off of Zuko's rhino and headed back into the brush.

"Come on," Zuko ordered the five soldiers as he turned his rhino around and headed back to the warship, soon followed by the others.

"Are we really going to leave here, Prince Zuko?" the soldier right behind the young prince whispered loudly.

"Of course not!" Zuko snapped. "I don't care that the tiger can talk. Why would that beast decide to talk to us in the first place, unless it was hiding something or someone that it doesn't want us to find? We're coming back to this island at nightfall on the riverboat. No one orders me around, especially not some talking tiger."

As Zuko lead his men back to the warship, the tiger watched them intently from the top of the cliff. Satisfied that they were finally leaving, the tiger turned around and headed deeper into the forest, unaware of Zuko's plans…

"Go faster, Rini! Faster!" the young girls cheered on the rabbit, which was running away from a fox.

The fox was about the same size as the rabbit, with an elongated body, golden yellow eyes, and two long bushy tails. He was covered in reddish-orange fur, with long pointed black ears, black paws, black fur on the tips of his tails, and white on his chest.

"You'll never catch me, Kitsune!" the rabbit shouted back to the pursuing fox.

"We'll see about that, Rini!" the fox shouted as he put on an extra burst of speed.

Aang, Sokka, Katara, and the other younger children watched as the rabbit was playfully chased around the fire pit by the fox. The two small animals continued to run about in circles around the fire pit, occasionally weaving around the huts.

"Come on, Kitsune! You can catch her!" the young boys cheered on the fox. Just then, Sai emerged from the surrounding forest.

"Sai, any word from Tora yet?" Uma asked curiously when she noticed that Sai had returned.

"No, not yet," Sai reluctantly admitted as he made his way through the crowd surrounding the fire pit. Suddenly, the rabbit ran into Sai, soon followed by the fox.

"Rini, Kitsune! Stop playing around! This isn't the time!" Sai complained as the rabbit and fox changed back into their human forms.

Kitsune was the same age as Rini, with short brown hair with a long braided rattail running past his shoulder blades, and golden brown eyes. He was wearing a tan short-sleeve tunic, tan leggings, brown boots, a brown leather headband, and a thin brown cord around his waist.

"We weren't just playing around, Sai!" Rini remarked.

"Yeah, we were entertaining the Avatar and his friends," Kitsune pointed out.

"That was fun, watching you guys!" Aang openly admitted.

"Thanks, Aang!" Kitsune and Rini both responded cheerfully. Just then, there was a rustling sound coming from behind a small cluster of bushes.

"Tora, is that you?" Aang asked curiously as everyone turned their attention towards the bushes.

"Yes, it's me, Aang," a familiar voice replied as the tiger emerged from the bushes.

"So, what's going on with the Fire Nation, Tora?" Sai asked curiously as the tiger changed back into her human form.

"Prince Zuko and his troops have left our island," Tora announced. "I stuck around to make sure of it. Their ship is back out in the ocean, where it belongs. They won't set foot on our island ever again!"

"Yeah! All right!" the children all cheered enthusiastically.

"All right, everyone, calm down," Tora replied as she held her hands up for silence. Once everyone had settled down, Tora cleared her throat for a moment.

"Now, let's eat, everyone. We have a lot to celebrate today…the most important thing, of course, is having the Avatar and his friends here with us." Aang blushed a bit upon hearing Tora's compliment.

"Okay, we need to start the fire, so we can roast the fish and vegetables. And bring up the fruit, too. We can start eating that while we wait for the fish and vegetables to cook," Tora announced…

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**DC:** You've probably noticed that I didn't provide a description of Uma's human form. I've decided against providing a physical description of each and every single animal bender that I gave a name to. You probably already have a general idea of what an animal bender looks like: clothes made of animal skins and furs, hair that is some shade of brown, and eyes that are usually some shade of brown in color.


	5. Celebration

THE SECRET OF ANIMARU ISLAND

**Chapter Five: Celebration**

"As we were leaving the island on Appa, I looked back and saw the village engulfed in flames. I knew then that I couldn't just leave without helping the people living there," Aang revealed. It was late in the day, and Aang was entertaining the children around the fire pit by telling them about his many adventures.

"So, what did you do, Aang?" Shika asked curiously.

"I jumped into the water and took a ride on the Unagi. I used his powerful water cannon to put out the fire in the village. And that's how I helped the people of Kyoshi Island!" Aang admitted proudly. He was soon met with loud applause and cheers from the crowd of children.

"That was amazing!" Kameko openly admitted.

"Tell us another one, Aang!" Kitsune pleaded, followed by the clamoring of the others.

"All right, umm…" Aang muttered out loud as he thought about another story to tell the eager children. "You want to hear about my journey into the Spirit World?"

"Yes, Aang! Please tell us!" the children exclaimed excitedly.

"Okay…so we had just arrived at this village in the Earth Kingdom, which was suffering attacks from a very angry spirit…"

As Aang continued telling his story, Sokka gazed around and noticed that Tora was missing from the group. "Hey, Katara, I'm gonna go take a walk, okay?" he whispered to his younger sister.

"Okay, Sokka. Say hi to Tora for me," Katara replied just as Sokka was getting up, causing her older brother to freeze in place for a moment.

"If I see her, I will," Sokka stated firmly as he headed for the forest.

As Sokka walked further away from the village and the orange glow of its fire pit, his eyes slowly became adjusted to the subtle darkness of the forest. Suddenly, a loud crack broke the silence of the forest, causing Sokka to jump out of alarm.

"Geez! What was that?" Sokka wondered aloud as he looked around for the source of the sound.

Just then, Sokka heard the noise again, only it was closer this time. He took in a deep breath before walking through some tall bushes, concealing a small clearing surrounded by trees. In the middle of the clearing was Tora, brandishing her whip in one hand. Partially concealing himself behind a tree, Sokka watched as Tora swung her whip around in each and every direction, occasionally striking a tree with her whip.

"Wow! Tora's really good!" Sokka whispered to himself. Just then, a loud snap rang through the forest when Sokka accidentally stepped on a twig. He quickly ducked behind the tree so that Tora wouldn't see him.

_I can't let Tora see me here. She'll probably think I was spying on her or something!_ Sokka thought nervously to himself as he stood as still as he could for a few agonizing moments. When Sokka cautiously peeked out from behind the tree, he was surprised to see that Tora was nowhere in sight.

"Hey, where did she go?" Sokka wondered aloud as he stepped out into the clearing where he had seen Tora earlier.

"Looking for someone?"

Sokka nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the voice from behind him. He turned around and saw Tora standing behind him, with her whip dangling around her neck and a sly little smirk across her lips.

"Oh…Tora!" Sokka stuttered as he quickly tried to compose himself. "I was just…taking a walk, ya know?"

"Mmm-hmm," Tora muttered out loud, nodding her head slightly.

"Umm…I noticed that you're pretty good with that whip of yours," Sokka commented.

"Yeah, it's the first weapon my father taught me how to use," Tora revealed. "I try to practice every now and then, so my skills don't get rusty. Have you ever used a whip before, Sokka?"

"No, I can't say I have," Sokka replied.

"Would you like to learn? I could teach you what I know," Tora offered as she removed the whip from around her neck.

"Sure, why not?" Sokka asked as he shrugged his shoulders, trying to act nonchalant about it…

Meanwhile, back on the cliff overlooking the bay, a coyote was sitting on the edge of the cliff, staring out at the water, which was reflecting many colors from the setting sun. The coyote had an elongated slender body covered in pale yellow fur, bright red eyes with black slants for pupils, long pointed ears with tufts of white fur on the tips, a fluffy white chest, and six long bushy tails with white on the tips of them.

"Everything seems quiet tonight, and there's no sign of the Fire Navy," the coyote muttered out loud. "What do you think, Rini?" There was a pause of silence that followed.

"Rini, didn't you hear me?" the coyote asked curiously as she looked over her shoulder. The coyote growled softly out of disappointment when she saw that the rabbit, who was supposed to be standing guard with her, was sprawled out on her stomach, fast asleep.

"Come on, Rini. We're supposed to be keeping an eye out for possible intruders, not sleeping," the coyote whispered as she gently nudged the sleeping rabbit with her nose. The rabbit barely stirred from the coyote's attempt to wake her up.

"Why do I even bother sometimes?" the coyote muttered out loud, shaking her head out of disappointment as she sat back down. Just then, something moving out in the water caught the coyote's eye.

"Huh?" the coyote gasped as she observed a small black object moving through the water of the massive bay. As the black object came closer to the island, the coyote realized that it was a much smaller version of the Fire Navy warship.

"Rini, wake up!" the coyote whispered loudly as she nudged the rabbit with her paw.

"Give me five more minutes, Mai…" the rabbit murmured groggily as she twitched her nose slightly, not bothering to open her eyes.

"Rini, this is important! The Fire Navy's back!" the coyote whispered as she nudged the rabbit again.

"What?" the rabbit gasped out loud as she quickly opened her eyes and sat up on her hind legs. "But, Tora said that she scared them off."

"They must have tricked her into thinking that or something. They're coming back here on a smaller ship, probably so they would be less noticeable," the coyote muttered out loud. "Rini, you're the fastest one out of the two of us. Run back to the village, find Tora, and let her know what's going on. I'll stay here and keep an eye on that ship."

"You got it, Mai," the rabbit agreed as she ran off into the brush, while the coyote kept her red eyes on the riverboat…

"Not bad for your first try, Sokka," Tora openly admitted after Sokka swung the whip for the first time.

"Yeah, but I couldn't make the whip crack," Sokka complained.

"Here, let me give you some advice," Tora offered as she approached Sokka from behind. She then placed her right hand over Sokka's right hand, which was holding the whip. "When you swing the whip in the air or at a target, be sure to keep your wrist stiff and rigid. That'll allow you to snap the whip properly, and the force will create that loud cracking sound you were talking about."

"Okay, Tora…stiff and rigid wrist. Got it," Sokka repeated as he turned his head to look at Tora. The two young teens blushed profusely when they realized that their faces were nearly touching.

"Umm, I'll…give you some space so you can try out the whip like I told you, okay?" Tora stuttered a bit nervously as she let go of Sokka's arm and backed away a few feet.

"Yeah…okay," Sokka stammered as he took a moment to compose himself before swinging the whip as Tora instructed him to. Sure enough, the whip produced a loud crack when the tip struck the ground.

"All right! I did it!" Sokka exclaimed.

"Yes, you most certainly did, Sokka," Tora openly admitted with a small smile. "Go ahead, give it another swing. Try aiming for one of the trees this time."

"Okay, sure," Sokka agreed as he swung the whip at the closest tree. When the tip of the whip struck the tree trunk, it stripped off a small portion of the tree bark in the process.

"Wow…did you see that, Tora?" Sokka asked curiously as he turned around to face Tora.

"Yeah, I saw it, Sokka," Tora replied as she approached Sokka. "I must say that you're a quick learner. It took me a while to learn how to handle a whip properly."

"Really? You could have fooled me, Tora," Sokka confessed.

"So, you were watching me, weren't you?" Tora asked teasingly, causing Sokka to turn red out of embarrassment.

"I wasn't spying on you or anything like that!" Sokka denied as he gave Tora back her whip.

"Anyway, I knew you were there the whole time," Tora openly admitted as she recoiled her whip and attached it to the cord around her waist.

"But, how?" Sokka asked curiously.

"It's gonna take a while to explain, so we might as well sit down," Tora suggested as she sat down on a nearby log and gestured for Sokka to sit down next to her. Sokka quickly complied as he sat down next to the animal bender.

"You see, when you're an animal bender, your own physical abilities and senses become much stronger than any normal person," Tora started to explain. "We're able to run faster, climb higher, see farther, and smell better than most people. We pick up these things from the animals we change into."

"Excuse me…smell better? What do you mean by that?" Sokka asked curiously.

"As I said before, our senses become stronger, like our sense of sight and smell. Most animals have a sensitive sense of smell that they use for a variety of things, such as locating food, a potential mate, or even finding their way around," Tora continued. "Like animals, all people have a unique scent to them. It's something you can't get rid of, no matter how often you wash yourself. Benders, especially, have a certain scent to them. Like, you can pick up the strong smell of the earth from earthbenders. Also, firebenders carry with them the strong odor of smoke from the fire they produce. Airbenders have the odor of the crisp, clean air on them, and waterbenders…well, it depends. If they normally use water from the ocean for waterbending, they'll have the smell of saltwater on them. If they use freshwater, like from a stream or a lake, the smell would be much cleaner, with some odor from the surrounding trees."

"Well, what about me? What's my scent like?" Sokka inquired curiously.

"Are you serious, Sokka?" Tora exclaimed as she giggled a bit.

"Well, umm…you're the one who brought it up in the first place, Tora! I was just curious!" Sokka claimed in his own defense.

"I can honestly say that you're the first person to ever ask me that!" Tora openly confessed. "Okay, if you really want to know, I'll tell you." Tora turned a little bit to face Sokka and took in a deep breath through her nose.

"Let's see…you have a lingering odor of cold crisp air, probably from living in the South Pole most of your life. And I'm picking up the scent of paint from your face. My guess is that you wore war paint on your face quite a few times," Tora revealed. "Us animal benders also use war paint before going into battle."

"Wow…you're good!" Sokka commented. To Sokka's surprise, Tora suddenly grabbed his right hand with both hands.

"And this is your throwing hand," Tora continued. "I can pick up the smell of metal from this hand. That tells me that, even though you have other weapons, your metal boomerang is your preferred weapon of choice."

"Uhh…Tora…" Sokka trailed off a bit nervously as he looked down at his right hand, which was still being grasped gently in Tora's hands.

"Oh, umm…sorry," Tora apologized as she quickly let go of Sokka's hand and turned her head so that he wouldn't see her face turning red.

"Tora! Tora!" a familiar voice shouted as a blur of white ran towards Tora and Sokka.

"Rini, what's wrong?" Tora asked curiously as the rabbit stopped in front of them and quickly took in deep breaths of air.

"The Fire Nation…they're back!" the rabbit gasped.

"What?" Sokka exclaimed as he and Tora stood up.

"It's true! Mai and I saw them! They're on their way here on a smaller ship!" the rabbit continued. "It's too small to carry any rhinos, so they're probably gonna search the island on foot!"

"So, Prince Zuko decided against my warning, huh? Well then, we'll have to take action this time," Tora stated as she stood up. "Rini, you go rejoin Mai and let her know we'll join her shortly. I'll gather the other animal benders and we'll work on a new strategy to scare the Fire Navy off of our island for good, this time."

"Okay, Tora," the rabbit agreed as she hopped back in the direction she came from as fast as she could.

"What about me? What should I do, Tora?" Sokka asked curiously.

"I want you to stay in the village with Aang, Katara, and the other children, Sokka," Tora replied. "So far, the Fire Nation doesn't suspect that the Avatar is on this island. I would prefer to keep it that way. If they see you, they will know the Avatar is here. That will make them even more determined to search the island and find out about us. We have been a closely guarded secret by the Earth Kingdom, and if the Fire Nation finds out about us…"

"It's okay, Tora. I get it," Sokka stated. "You have to do what you have to do to protect your people. I understand what you're going through. When my father and the men of my tribe left two years to aid the Earth Kingdom in this war, I was left in charge of everyone that was left behind."

"I had a feeling about you, Sokka, that a big responsibility fell on your shoulders at an early age," Tora muttered out loud. "We'll have to talk more about this later. We need to go back to the village right away and warn everyone."

"Yeah, of course," Sokka agreed as he and Tora ran back towards the village…


	6. Captured Tiger

THE SECRET OF ANIMARU ISLAND

**Chapter Six: Captured Tiger**

"Yay! Wahoo!" Kitsune screamed ecstatically as he held on tight to Aang's shoulders while they circled around the fire pit on Aang's air scooter.

"Okay, ride's over!" Aang announced as he leapt off of the swirling ball of air just moments before it completely disappeared.

"That was so much fun, Aang!" Kitsune openly admitted as he let go of Aang's shoulders and landed on the ground.

"Me, next! Me, next!" all of the children clamored loudly as they gathered around the young airbender.

"Relax, everyone. I'll give everybody a ride on my air scooter…eventually…" Aang trailed off with a nervous chuckle.

Katara, who was sitting on a log in between Sai and Gokuin, chuckled softly over Aang's predicament. "Do they always get this excited over visitors?"

"Not always, Katara. Those who have come near or on our island before were either fishermen or Earth Kingdom soldiers stopping by to check on us," Gokuin explained. "We don't usually get younger visitors, like yourself or Aang, so this is a big thrill for them."

Just then, Sai, who had been sitting quietly all this time, sniffed the air briefly and turned his attention to the forest.

"What is it, Sai?" Katara asked curiously.

"Tora and Sokka are on their way back to the village," Sai stated. "Something's wrong…I can sense it." Just then, as Sai had revealed, Tora and Sokka stepped out from the cover of the forest.

"Hey, look, everyone! Tora and Sokka are back!" Aang announced as he managed to pull himself away from Kitsune, Saru, Tori, Shika, Uma, Kameko, Dachou, Oumu, and the rest of the children; and joined Katara, Sai, and Gokuin on the other side of the fire pit.

As they came closer to the light from the fire pit, Katara quickly noticed the serious expressions on both Tora and Sokka's faces. "Sokka, what's going on?" Katara asked curiously as her brother rejoined her and Aang.

"Trust me, it's nothing good!" Sokka muttered out loud.

"Listen to me, everyone!" Tora announced as she stood on one of the logs around the fire pit. "I don't wish to alarm you, but I've recently received news that Prince Zuko has decided to ignore my warning and is returning to the island as we speak."

"Oh, no!" Shika exclaimed out of surprise as everyone else started to talk excitedly amongst themselves.

"EVERYONE, CALM DOWN!" Tora shouted loudly to get everyone's attention. Once everyone finally quieted down, Tora cleared her throat slightly before continuing.

"Uma and Rini have spotted a smaller boat cutting through the bay, which they believed came from the larger Fire Navy warship. I doubt Prince Zuko would be foolish enough to return to the island by himself at night, so we need to ready ourselves for battle," Tora stated as she leapt off of the log she was standing on and entered one of the huts.

"You guys, we need to hurry!" Uma shouted as she rejoined everyone in the village, soon followed by Rini.

"The boat just docked on the shore. We saw six figures get off the boat, all of them firebenders," Rini added.

"And Prince Zuko is definitely one of them," Uma finished.

"Prepare yourselves!" Tora announced as she left the hut, now carrying a clay jar in her hand. She placed the jar on top of one of the logs surrounding the fire pit and pulled off the lid, revealing red war paint.

"Okay, every able animal bender get in line," Tora instructed as she dipped her fingers into the war paint.

Sai was the first in line, followed by Uma, Tori, Shika, Mai, Kameko, Saru, Gokuin, Dachou, Oumu, Kitsune, and Rini. Tora painted a long red line from the middle of Sai's forehead down the length of his nose, along with two diagonal lines on his forehead just above his eyebrows. One by one, Tora adorned the faces of her fellow animal benders with the war paint, until Rini was the only one left.

"Rini…I want you to stay here," Tora whispered to the youngest animal bender as she dotted the tip of Rini's nose.

"But, why, Tora? I wanna help!" Rini protested.

"You will be helping, Rini. You're to watch over the children, in case something happens," Tora explained as she added two red streaks resembling whiskers on either side of Rini's face.

"Well…okay," Rini reluctantly agreed.

"Don't let me down, Rini. I'm counting on you," Tora revealed.

"All right, Tora," Rini replied with a reluctant half-smile.

Tora nodded slightly before returning her attention to Aang, Katara, Sokka, and the younger children. "Everyone else is to stay here in the village. If worst comes to worst, don't forget that there are concealed weapons in all of the huts. You've all been trained to use them, so don't be afraid to do so."

"Tora…you don't have to do this," Aang spoke up. "We can just leave Animaru Island. Prince Zuko will follow us, and your people will be safe."

"It doesn't matter, Aang. This is our home, and we need to defend it. In their search of this island, they may choose to burn it down to the ground without a second thought. We can't allow the Fire Nation to find out about us, or destroy our home," Tora stated as she stuck three of her fingers from both hands, excluding her pinky fingers and thumbs, into the jar of war paint.

After removing her fingers from the jar, Tora ran her fingers across her cheeks, leaving three red streaks resembling whiskers on both sides of her face. She finished off by painting a line down the length of her nose. After putting the lid back on the clay jar, Tora turned to Sai, Uma, Tori, Shika, Mai, Kameko, Saru, Gokuin, Dachou, Oumu, Kitsune, and Rini.

"Everyone, change!" Tora announced loudly.

Within moments, all thirteen animal benders had changed into various animals. Tora had changed into a tiger, Sai had changed into a Komodo rhino, Uma had changed into a horse, Shika had changed into a coyote, Saru had changed into a winged lemur, Gokuin had changed into a seal, Kitsune had changed into a fox, and Rini had changed into a rabbit.

Tori had changed into a bird that was roughly the size of a chicken covered in blue feathers, with white feathers covering her belly and the undersides of her wings.

Shika had changed into a deer with hazel brown fur speckled sparingly with white oval-shaped spots, short stubby horns on top of her head, large pointed ears, and long legs with black cloven hooves.

Kameko had changed into a large tortoise with olive green skin, a large dome-shaped dark green shell on her back with many different-sized swirls covering it, a sharp lime green beak, thick stubby legs with claws, and a long thin tail.

Dachou had changed into an ostrich, the large bird commonly seen in the Earth Kingdom being used as transportation, only without the armor.

Oumu had changed into a reptilian parrot, which Aang and his friends had only seen once before as belonging to the captain of the pirates they had a run-in with some time ago.

"All right, let's go!" the tiger stated as she headed into the brush, followed by the rhino, the horse, the deer, the coyote, the tortoise, the seal, the ostrich, the fox, and the rabbit; while the blue bird, the lemur, and the reptilian parrot took to the skies…

"Are you sure we should be doing this, Prince Zuko?" one of the five soldiers asked a bit warily as they followed Zuko into the thick, overgrown forest.

"We're not leaving this island until we prove whether or not the Avatar is here," Zuko stated.

"But, what about the tiger's warning?" another soldier asked.

"I don't care about that. Besides, it's not possible for the tiger to be everywhere on this island. I doubt we'll run into it again," Zuko pointed out as he pushed a fern out of his way.

The five soldiers showed obvious signs of nervousness as they followed their prince further into the forest. Their uneasiness was further heightened when a long mournful howl filled the silence of the night.

"W-what was that?" one of the soldiers stammered a bit nervously.

"Sounded like a coyote, maybe. But what's a coyote doing on an island?" another soldier wondered aloud. "They're more commonly found in the mainland of the Earth Kingdom, and to my knowledge, coyotes can't swim."

Just then, a familiar roar broke the silence, causing all five soldiers to jump.

"It's that tiger! It's coming for us!" one of the soldiers gasped loudly.

Zuko, who was becoming clearly annoyed by his soldiers' antics, turned around and shouted angrily, "What are you: men or cowards? We're not leaving because you're afraid of a couple of animals! All five of you are firebenders, for crying out loud! Now, let's keep going!" The five soldiers felt silent as they nodded their heads in agreement.

_What a bunch of superstitious fools!_ Zuko thought to himself, shaking his head slightly out of disappointment as he and his soldiers continued on their way. When they reached a small clearing within the thick forest, the various animal calls and noises persisted and grew louder.

"You have been warned not to return to this island. Now, you will all pay for your insolence," a familiar voice growled deeply from somewhere around them.

"Is that so? Why don't you come out and face me, then?" Zuko demanded, much to the astonishment of the five Fire Nation soldiers that accompanied him onto the island.

"With…pleasure…" the tiger's voice growled softly. As Zuko looked around for the tiger, he didn't notice a pair of green eyes that appeared in the bushes directly behind him.

"Prince Zuko! Behind you!" one of the soldiers shouted in warning. Just as Zuko turned around, the tiger leapt out of the brush and pounced on top of the Fire Nation prince, knocking him into the brush.

"Prince Zuko, we're coming!" one of the Fire Nation soldiers shouted as the five men ran towards the bushes to aid their young prince. Suddenly, the five soldiers found themselves being dive-bombed by a blue bird, a winged lemur, and a reptilian parrot.

"What's with these stupid animals?" another soldier shouted as he and his fellow soldiers shot blasts of fire in the air in an attempt to scare away the flying creatures. To their surprise, instead of being frightened away, the three flying animals skillfully avoided the flames. Just then, the ground started to shake slightly, as though something big was heading their way.

"Look out!" one of the soldiers shouted as a wild Komodo rhino suddenly burst out of the trees, charging right towards the five Fire Nation soldiers. The soldiers quickly dived out of the wild beast's path as he stampeded past them and disappeared in the brush.

"Since when do wild rhinos live in Earth Kingdom territory?" one of the soldiers asked no one in particular as they started to stand up.

The last Fire Nation soldier was almost on his feet when he felt something clasp onto his right foot. "Oww!" he screamed loudly out of pain. When he looked down, the Fire Nation soldier was surprised to see that a tortoise was the cause of his pain, with her vice-like jaws latched tightly onto his foot.

"Get off!" the soldier yelled angrily as he swung his leg back and forth in an attempt to shake the tortoise loose, but to no avail.

Meanwhile, the other Fire Nation soldiers were having their own problems. One was being continually dive-bombed by the reptilian parrot, winged lemur, and blue bird; another was being attacked by a horse and a seal; a third soldier was being attacked by an ostrich and a deer; and the remaining soldier was being attacked by a coyote and a fox.

"What in the name of Ozai is going on?" one of the Fire Nation soldiers asked aloud as the animals, after being rejoined by the Komodo rhino, surrounded the five soldiers…

"Grrr…" Zuko growled angrily under his breath as he threw his fist at the tiger yet again, launching a blast of fire at the wild cat. Once again, the tiger used the trees to her advantage by leaping up into them out of Zuko's sight. The tree trunks were already singed from the Fire Nation prince's previous attempts at striking the tiger with his firebending.

"Are you afraid to fight me?" Zuko demanded. "If you're so desperate to get me and my men off of this island, then what are you waiting for?"

_For the perfect moment to strike, Prince Zuko,_ the tiger thought to herself, who was now positioned in a tall tree right behind Zuko. _And the time is…now!_

As Zuko started to turn around, his eyes widened out of surprise when he saw the tiger jump out of the tree with claws extended, heading right towards him. Just as the tiger was about to pounce on Zuko, he nailed the wild cat directly in the head with a swift kick. The move sent the tiger flying into a tree. As the tiger slid down to the ground in a crumpled heap, Zuko cautiously approached the unconscious beast while forming flaming torches in his clenched fists.

"It doesn't matter to me if you're some sort of mystical creature or not. Either way, you shall make a fine pelt on my wall," Zuko muttered out loud.

Just as he was about to finish off the tiger, Zuko was startled when the animal started to physically change right before his eyes, losing the tiger stripes and tail, and taking on human features.

"What in the world…" Zuko trailed off as he snuffed out the flames in his hands.

Lying on the ground where the tiger used to be was an unconscious teenage girl with reddish-brown hair that was dressed in deerskins, with three red streaks of war paint on either side of her face and a red streak down the length of her nose. She had a fairly decent-sized bump on her head in the exact location where Zuko had landed his kick on the tiger.

Uncertain of whether what he just witnessed was real or not, Zuko cautiously approached Tora and quickly poked her in the shoulder a couple of times. The teenage girl stirred a bit upon Zuko touching her, and then slipped back into her unconscious state.

_Who is this girl? Better yet…what is she?_ Zuko thought to himself.

The young prince hesitated for a moment before kneeling down and scooping up Tora in his arms. Locked in battle with the soldiers, the other animals were unaware that Zuko was carrying their leader back to the riverboat they took to shore, all but one.

"Oh, no! Prince Zuko's taking Tora away!" the rabbit gasped loudly as she followed Zuko down to the sandy shoreline of the bay. She lost him out of her sight for a few moments as she passed through some tall grass, but she soon spotted Zuko at the riverboat, carefully carrying the unconscious Tora aboard.

"Oh, what to do? What to do?" the rabbit exclaimed fearfully as her nose twitched about nervously. "I can only take on the form of a rabbit. There's nothing I can do! No wonder Tora told me to stay behind!"

Just then, the rabbit was startled by a bright orange light that suddenly appeared in the dark night sky. She soon realized that Zuko had thrown a large fire ball into the sky from the riverboat's deck.

"He must be sending some sort of a signal to his men, but what could it mean?" the rabbit muttered thoughtfully.

Suddenly, the rabbit heard several footsteps quickly approaching the sandy shore. She quickly concealed herself among the tall grass growing alongside the beach as five men ran past her hiding spot and boarded the riverboat. From her hiding place, the rabbit noticed several animals gathered together in the distance, watching the riverboat intently. Within minutes, smoke shot up from the two smokestacks as the riverboat disembarked from the sandy shore and headed for deeper water.

"Good, they left," a deep gruff voice announced, whom the rabbit recognized as the voice of Sai in his rhino form. "Come, let us return to the village and celebrate our victory." The other animals that were with the rhino nodded their heads in agreement as they all turned around and headed into the forest.

"Oh, no! They think they scared the Fire Nation away! They don't know that Tora is aboard that ship as their prisoner!" the rabbit gasped loudly as she crawled out of her hiding spot. "I better return to the village right away and let them know of this. Maybe, together, we can figure out a way to rescue her!" With that, the rabbit hopped off in the direction of the village as fast as her little legs would carry her…

"Prince Zuko, what's going on?" one of the soldiers asked curiously as the five soldiers rejoined Zuko on the deck of the riverboat.

"We're leaving now," Zuko simply replied as he looked back out at the ocean.

Not wanting to question Zuko's order, the five soldiers got into the riverboat and started up the steam-powered engines. As two of the soldiers tended to the engine, with one of them positioned at the steering wheel, the remaining three soldiers joined Zuko on the deck of the riverboat. It was then that they noticed Tora lying in the middle of the deck at Zuko's feet.

"Who's the girl?" one of the soldiers asked inquisitively.

"I don't know her name, but one thing's for certain: she was the tiger who spoke to us earlier today, and the one I fought with just a short while ago," Zuko replied.

"How could a person possibly do such things? I mean, take on the form of an animal?" another soldier wondered aloud.

"I don't know…but I do intend to find out," Zuko muttered out loud as he looked down at Tora…

"We are victorious! The Fire Nation has left our island!" Sai announced proudly as he returned to the village, along with Uma, Tori, Shika, Mai, Kameko, Saru, Gokuin, Dachou, Oumu, and Kitsune.

"That's great!" Aang openly admitted.

"Sai, where's Tora and Rini?" Katara asked curiously.

"Rini?" Sai repeated. "She was supposed to stay near the village as a lookout. Rini only knows the form of a rabbit, which wouldn't have been much help to us. As for Tora, she probably stayed behind to make sure that the Fire Nation left our island for good."

Just then, a rabbit darted out of the bushes and nearly knocked Kitsune over in the process. "Rini? What's going on?" Kitsune asked curiously as the rabbit took in several deep breaths.

"He got her! He got her! He got her!" the rabbit exclaimed quickly in a panicked voice.

"Rini, please calm down," Sai instructed the rabbit. The rabbit nodded as she changed back into her human form.

"Now, calmly tell us what happened," Sai requested.

"Prince Zuko, he got Tora!" Rini announced, getting loud gasps from everyone. "He knocked her unconscious and took her away in one of their ships!"

"So, that means…Prince Zuko saw Tora as a human!" Gokuin realized.

"What? How could that possibly happen?" Sokka exclaimed loudly.

"If any animal bender becomes unconscious while in an animal form, it's impossible to hold onto it," Sai explained. "We can hold onto an animal form while we're sleeping, but if any of us become unconscious, either accidentally or intentionally, we lose the ability to hold onto that form. So, unfortunately, Prince Zuko and his crew now know that animal benders are just as real as any other bender."

"Sai, what do we do?" Kameko asked curiously as all the children looked at Sai questionably.

"Yeah, Sai. Tora did make you her second-in-command, since you're the second oldest, so that means you're in charge now," Oumu pointed out.

"Hmmm…the best thing to do now is to get some rest. It's getting late, and I'm certain that Prince Zuko and his crew will soon be retiring for the evening," Sai replied. "Early tomorrow morning, we'll start work on a large raft so we can reach the warship and rescue Tora…that is if she hasn't already escaped on her own."

"Maybe she's still resting, Sai," Rini pointed out. "That meanie, Prince Zuko, did knock her unconscious."

"So, she's probably taking it easy for now, waiting for when the time is right," Sai muttered thoughtfully. "Either way, we're building that raft tomorrow, and I want us to set sail by sunset."

"Why can't we just take Appa to the ship?" Aang suggested. "He can fly there much faster."

"That won't be such a good idea, Aang," Sai explained. "You mentioned earlier that this Prince Zuko has been pursuing you and your friends for some time. He would most certainly be on the lookout for a flying bison. Arriving by raft would give us the element of surprise."

"But, it'll be dark soon after we leave, won't it, Sai?" Kitsune asked curiously.

"That would give us an additional element of surprise, Kitsune. Even the Fire Nation needs to rest, and that means they'll have to drop anchor to do so," Sai pointed out. "That'll make it easier to catch up with them. Everyone, let's get some rest. We're going to need it." The remaining animal benders silently nodded their heads as they and the other children went into the huts.

"What about us, Sai? Can we come, too?" Aang asked curiously, referring to himself, Katara, and Sokka.

"I don't know, Aang. That would be taking you aboard enemy territory," Sai muttered out loud.

"I feel responsible about all this, Sai. Tora was trying to protect everyone here, including me and my friends…and she got captured because of it," Aang explained. "We want to help save her, right, guys?"

"Yes, of course we do," Katara replied as Sokka nodded his head in agreement.

"Well…all right, then. We'll need all the help we can get," Sai reluctantly agreed…

"Urhm…my head…" Tora murmured a bit groggily as she slowly brought a hand to her head, which was throbbing in pain and had a slight lump.

It took Tora a few moments to realize her surroundings. She was locked up in a crude prison cell, lying on a worn mattress stuffed with hay, along with a pillow tucked under her head and a worn red blanket covering her.

"Oh, no!" Tora gasped softly when she recognized the two Fire Nation soldiers guarding the cell. "I must be aboard Prince Zuko's warship as his prisoner! Well, sorry to disappoint him, but I don't plan on staying!" When she reached for her whip, Tora gasped when she realized that it wasn't attached to the cord around her waist, where she had left it.

"My whip! Where is it?" Tora whispered a bit panicky as she frantically looked around the mattress and under the pillow and blanket, praying that it just simply fell off of her belt.

"Looking for something?"

Recognizing the voice, Tora turned around and saw that Zuko, the one who knocked her unconscious earlier, was standing right outside of the cell with an elderly man. In Zuko's hand was Tora's coiled whip, which infuriated the animal bender. She quickly changed into a tiger and jumped right on the barred wall of the cell, sticking her paws out as far as they could go, with her claws fully extended.

"Ah!" Zuko gasped loudly as he jumped back a bit, barely avoiding the tiger's claws. Even the two guards wisely kept their distance when the tiger abruptly lashed out at the prince of the Fire Nation. Zuko looked down and noticed four faint parallel scratches on his chest armor.

_She must be very strong to leave even faint scratches in metal armor!_ Zuko thought to himself as he looked back at the tiger, who was still swinging her front legs wildly through the iron bars and roaring ferociously.

"I was simply going to ask you a few questions, but you are clearly not in the mood to talk at the moment," Zuko stated. "I'll give you the night to calm down, but if you're still acting this way by morning, I'll have you thrown overboard with your hands and ankles bound together. Let's go, uncle."

"ZUKO!" the tiger shouted angrily in a half-roar as she watched Zuko and Iroh head down the hall…

"Prince Zuko, that girl you found is quite a rare find, indeed," Iroh openly admitted as he and his nephew headed down a hall to their sleeping quarters.

"What do you mean, uncle?" Zuko asked curiously.

"From what you have told me and from what I just witnessed for myself, I believe that this girl is an animal bender," Iroh explained.

"An animal bender? But, those people are just legend…aren't they, uncle?" Zuko inquired.

"Perhaps not, Prince Zuko. This girl you captured is proof enough that these rare benders exist. The only reason that animal benders are considered to be nothing but legend is because they are not part of the Avatar Cycle," Iroh continued. "Unlike the elements of the Four Nations, animal bending cannot be taught; it is a skill they are born with. No Avatar could ever learn animal bending, no matter how hard they try."

Just then, Zuko abruptly stopped in his tracks. "I just thought of something, uncle. That girl…she appears no older than myself. And we were attacked by other animals, some of which are natural enemies of the tiger. There must be other animal benders besides her. I'll go question her now."

As Zuko started heading back towards the prison hold, Iroh blocked off his path. "Now is not the best time, Prince Zuko. It is getting late, and we can all use some rest. Besides, after that last encounter, I'm certain that the animal bender needs some time to cool off her temper, as do you."

"What are you talking about, uncle? I don't need to cool off," Zuko claimed.

"Zuko…you threatened to have her thrown overboard with her hands and feet tied," Iroh reminded his nephew. "You know better than to address any girl in that manner."

"I'm sorry, uncle," Zuko apologized.

"I believe you are apologizing to the wrong person, Prince Zuko," Iroh pointed out. "You may do so while we have breakfast with her in the morning."

"With her, uncle? Have you seen the way she's dressed, and how she acts around us? She's a savage, uncle!" Zuko exclaimed.

"Perhaps you shouldn't be so quick to judge. Well, good night, my nephew," Iroh replied with a yawn as he entered his sleeping quarters…


End file.
